Episode 31 : Knitwear Designer Ysolda Teague

Welcome back to Season 3 of the podcast!

Ysolda Teague is a knitwear designer and shopkeeper based in Scotland.

Ysolda took up knitting while studying English Literature when her bedroom didn’t have enough room for sewing and she couldn’t sit still in lectures. An inability to follow directions combined with a compulsion to understand how things work quickly led to a rather diy approach to patterns. Over the last decade she’s pioneered new models for self publishing for both her patterns and six books and developed a reputation for clear directions and interesting construction methods.

Ysolda continues to design while developing new products and managing a small team who share her nerdy excitement about all things knitting and yarn. She hates spaghetti as much as she loves yarn.

One of Ysolda’s wildfire patterns, the Ishbel Shawl.

If you were a knitter on the internet back in 2007 – 2011, you will most certainly recognize her name from one of her wildfire patterns, the Ishbel Shawl. Listen in to hear a new segment on the show where I share a little story; this time about my love affair with Ysolda’s wildly popular shawl.

During our conversation

I had a chance to ask Ysolda what has changed in the past 10 years, both in terms of her design aesthetic and process, and in how she views the value of her work and how designers should be compensated.

We geek out on design process and details in the first part of the interview. Ysolda shares how she works, the value she places on her time, how she’s structured her business, and the value of intricate details in handmade garments.

We also dive head first into some meaty topics, topics I am going to be bringing up more in this season of the podcast. Politics. Gender. Race. Privilege. It was a treat to get to ask Ysolda for her view on some of these topics, particularly how they play out in the knitting world.

Find Ysolda Online

Until next time…

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